Climb to Kurama ( eizan Mini layout)

[Kiha66]

Amazing work as usual, thanks so much for the tutorial too!  I can't wait to try it out.

[Bubule]

Hello  and thanks a lot for the comments !

 

I have painted the track and started to add some ballast : Notice the counter-rail on the inner rail of the curves.

 

 

 

To be continued ...

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Bubule

[gavino200]

That looks fantastic. The counter rail is an amazing detail. I also love the little strip of vegetation between the tracks. Just the right amount. Not overdone.

 

Could you sometime describe your technique for laying the grass/vegetation?

[Bubule]

Thanks Gavin.

 

I will do something on the vegetation later, this one is just an undercover to fix a bit of soil and to make the photo. The corner will be reworked later when applying the higther bushes and trees.

 

So tomorow ... the big ballasting challenge of the layout have been done : The cisor crossing ! I have spent 5 hours to mask, paint and ballast it.

 

First part apply som Tamiya masking tapes on the pivots and the ends of the blades (that provides electric power to blades). It is much important to not apply paint there if you wanted that your turnouts still works well after painting :

 

 

After that i aplly a cote of Tamiya XF 64 red brown on the crossing, a ligth dry brush of flat white to higthlight the relief of wood ties and last a cote of P.U. flat varnish :

 

 

 

 

The next step takes me 3 hours and a half : Applying ballast. Apply is dry without any glue. And shape it as you want by using very soft paint brushes and a steel point to remove all grains of ballast from the upper side of the ties. Be carefull and calm. Soft respiration. Be patient and precise. And for the cisor be carefull to do not have any contact between ballast and moving parts of the turnout. Lower the ballast level between ties on blades travels :

 

 

 

When all the ballast is OK and feat your hopes, it's  time to wet it, with a spay filled with water and a bit of dishwashing liquid (help to wet). Spay like a bristish rain : Very thin spay like drizzle.

You may have some grains that move a little bit on the upper of tie . Replace it on theyre right place between the tracks :

 

 

After all ballast is very wet, apply 50% water / 50% white wood glue magic mix (shake, shake shake it baby !). Add also a very little bit of dishwashing liquid to the mixture. I use a little bottle of used white glue to apply it. Put lots of glue, but apply it carefully very close to the ballast to care the shaping. Dont fears about the white appearence, because glue came transparent when drying. Again if some grains move, replace it, reshape the ballast a little bit if it's needed :

 

 

Allow 24 hours to dry, Never touch ballast before total drying. Place blades of the crossing in medium position to prevent it glues on a side. For the first 3 hours of drying move the blades every 30 min, you will be sure that they will not stick in place. When it dry, remove the paint and glue on the upper side of the rails ( i use the roco cleaning gum). And vacum the track to remove unglued gains and dust. Here it the result :

 

 

 

To be continued, Best regards

 

Jef

 

[gavino200]

7 hours ago, Bubule said:

 

After all ballast is very wet, apply 50% water / 50% white wood glue magic mix (shake, shake shake it baby !). Add also a very little bit of dishwashing liquid to the mixture. I use a little bottle of used white glue to apply it. Put lots of glue, but apply it carefully very close to the ballast to care the shaping. Dont fears about the white appearence, because glue came transparent when drying. Again if some grains move, replace it, reshape the ballast a little bit if it's needed :

 

 

 

 

 

In this step are you just gently squeezing the bottle and applying the glue, drop by drop, until every part has had a good soaking? Like glue-bottle carpet bombing if you will?

[Bubule]

2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

In this step are you just gently squeezing the bottle and applying the glue, drop by drop, until every part has had a good soaking? Like glue-bottle carpet bombing if you will?

 

Exactly ! You have perfectly summerized the thing ! Love the carpet bombing expression. 😋

[Bubule]

Hello all !

 

Just for info, my US N scale Layout is featured in the june edition of Continetal modeler. 

 

The artical have 8 pages, and 15 photos. It's have been nicely shaped by CM Team, Thanks to them for their job and theyre confidence, and specially to Andrew BURNHAM, who is real Gentlemen and a passionate of model railroading !

 

 

Best regards.

 

Jef

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Excellent! Always good to see the fruits of your labours in print.

 

I have met, and dealt with, Andrew Burnham (the editor) a few times and he is, as you say, a real gentlemen.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Bubule]

thank you Claude !

[Khaul]

@Bubule Welcome back, by the way. Looking forward to see more of your outstanding work in climb to Kurama.

[Bubule]

Thank's Khaul. I am very busy at my work, and unfortunately, i have no time for model railroading yet.☺️ I hope to be back to kurama model business as soon as possible ... But that's not winned !

Edited June 3, 2019 by Bubule

[Bubule]

Hello all ! Back to to the hobby for a WE.

 

Today, i made some cuts on Kurama Terminus for the first Time since two year … hope to have some Time do more next W.E.

Starting some test on curved upper tunnel vault. It is not the funniest thing to realize, but it must be done Lol 😂.

 

 

Best regards

 

Jef

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Bubule

[Bubule]

Hello ! I see that i have Forgoten to sent you my best wishes for 2022 😳 … Silly am i ! 🤪 So i wish the best for you all and the people important for you. 

 

Work is gong on. The vault take shape. Radius 200 mm. Made with 1mm thick cardboard.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by gavino200

[Bubule]

Hello all ! 😃

 

A short video to show you the test of the tunnel vault with the Green kato kirara. The kato track is 183 mm radius, the futur track on the layout would be 200 mm. It’s working well. I have two more vault to build for kurama terminus.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Bubule

[Kamome442]

Hi Jef,

I just wanted to say that your is layout is stunning. I was unaware of this project until the recent updates and I have really enjoyed reading through all the posts.

Your attention to detail is really inspiring.

Joe

[Bubule]

Hey joe ! Many thanks for your Nice comment. 😊

 

It a strong encouragement to go forward.

 

The Builds of kurama terminus is important for me. I love the eizan Railway and i really want to built a nice and fun représentation of this Line.

 

The real Life problems take me Away from the hobby for too long. I hope to finish the track, electricity and the frame work to pass to the scenary witch is the part i like the best 😍.

best regards!

 

jef

 

 

[Tom C]

I love the name of this layout as much as the build quality and that's saying a lot. 👍 

 

 

[Bubule]

Thanks Tom ! 😊

 

best regards!

 

jef

 

 

[Bubule]

A new cool 😎  Tomytec car in the Eizan roster for my Kurama Terminus layout. It the #722 . Equiped with TM-10R motorisation and PG16 optional pantograph.

 

Beautifull, not expansive and smooth running tiny engine.

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Bubule

[Tom C]

Wow, that is sooooooo smooooooth running and so quiet too. Very nice.👍

 

1 hour ago, Bubule said:

tiny engine.

Tiny ! tiny! that thing's a monster in size 😲 I think the INTIRE rolling stock of Akita Mountain would fit within its length 🤣

[gavino200]

Welcome back Bubule!!! Great to see you here again! I've often wondered how Kurama finished up. I remember your awesome technique and train driving videos!! I'm excited to see you're working on a tunnel. I love tunnels!

 

I hope you'll continue to make videos! Is this another staycation? Another short break from your main USA themed layout?

[Bubule]

6 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

Welcome back Bubule!!! Great to see you here again! I've often wondered how Kurama finished up. I remember your awesome technique and train driving videos!! I'm excited to see you're working on a tunnel. I love tunnels!

 

I hope you'll continue to make videos! Is this another staycation? Another short break from your main USA themed layout?

Hey thanks for your comment ! ☺️ My priority with the hobby is to finish Kurama … and There is a lot to do. So the US layout will sadly stay on hold …

[Kamome442]

9 hours ago, Bubule said:

The Builds of kurama terminus is important for me. I love the eizan Railway and i really want to built a nice and fun représentation of this Line.

 

I can totally understand that, Kurama is a beautiful station and I am sure you will do it justice. I also really like that you are including the temple in your plans. The Eizan Railway is a fantastic source for inspiration, I very nearly had a go at making a layout out of it myself.

 

 

[Bubule]

 

Hello all.

 

I don’t know if you have noticed that, but at the end of the short video about the tunnel, we can see in « aerial mode view » that portal of the tunnel make a disgracious angle with the track. 
 

It’s not acceptable, so I decided to had one more arch to made a more elegant angle. It was difficult to the correct the shape because this arch is cutter with angle :

 

 

 

 

You can see on this view that it is more elegant:

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Bubule

[Bubule]

Now next step is to realize the inner cover of the vault with redutex stone cover : note the exotic shapes of the cuts … get some headaches with the mathematics to calculate the shapes to match the curve of the vault 😝  😂

 

This is the shape of the last arch extension : it a sinusoïdalo-elliptic pattern … 😆 

 

And here the other pieces of redutex for the rest of the vault :

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Bubule